{"id":65408,"date":"2023-07-11T18:58:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T18:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/07\/11\/nato-chief-defends-ukraines-by-the-books-membership-path\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:54:49","slug":"nato-chief-defends-ukraines-by-the-books-membership-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/07\/11\/nato-chief-defends-ukraines-by-the-books-membership-path\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO chief defends Ukraine\u2019s by-the-book membership path"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON and COLOGNE, Germany \u2014 NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday defended the alliance\u2019s stance on an eventual membership for Ukraine, just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented the lack of a specific timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe all agree that the most imminent task now is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation in Europe,\u201d Stoltenberg told reporters after the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. \u201cSo the most important thing we can do is to continue to provide weapons, ammunition [and] military support to Ukraine, because unless Ukraine prevails as a nation, as a democratic nation in Europe, there is no issue to be discussed about security guarantees or membership in NATO at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stoltenberg\u2019s comments came after Zelenskyy called the summit\u2019s final communiqu\u00e9 language <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/your-military\/2023\/07\/11\/zelenskyy-says-natos-absurd-plans-for-ukraine-fall-short\/\">\u201cabsurd\u201d<\/a> in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon. The Ukrainian president made clear he was expecting a concrete time frame for when Ukraine would be formally invited to be a member of NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2023\/07\/11\/ukraine-nato-summit-2023-sweden\/\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Post<\/a>, an anonymous person familiar with the situation claims the U.S. delegation was furious with Zelenskyy\u2019s tweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stoltenberg said no country has ever been offered such a time frame for membership, saying all applicants must meet NATO conditions and garner unanimous allied support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you look at all the membership processes, there have not been timelines for those processes,\u201d Stoltenberg said. \u201cThey are condition-based, have always been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He outlined three steps the alliance would take to pave the way for an eventual Ukrainian membership. The first element is a multi-tiered program to help transition Ukraine to Western military equipment and provide assistance in rebuilding their defense sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second is a new NATO-Ukraine Council where Ukraine and NATO will \u201cmeet as equals\u201d and discuss strategic objectives, Stoltenberg said. This group is set to have its inaugural meeting July 12, the second and final day of the NATO summit, with Zelenskyy expected to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third element is removing the alliance\u2019s formal membership action plan requirement \u2014 which constitutes a lengthy, wholesale examination of military and civilian compatibilities with alliance members \u2014 to quicken the accession process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, Ukraine\u2019s NATO membership hinges on conditions related to good governance and anti-corruption policies, according to Stoltenberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps most importantly, Stoltenberg noted ongoing combat with invader Russia prohibits membership at this time. The point reflects a longstanding fear among Ukraine\u2019s Western backers that the war could spill over to NATO if the alliance were to put the full weight of its security guarantees on the table before a peace agreement is reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,\u201d reads the summit\u2019s final communiqu\u00e9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At their annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, alliance members made no guarantees on the timing of Kyiv&#8217;s accession while the war with Russia rages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":117913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3442,3425],"class_list":["post-65408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"R4UFZ3WC7NFKZLHKPCEJP63FHU","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2023\/07\/11\/nato-chief-defends-ukraines-by-the-books-membership-path\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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